AFL slaps trade ban on Swans

[Ludwig]

I don't agree with you Liz. I thought Pridham was pretty good. I liked the fact he fought Eddie that way. There is only one way to fight a rat and that is to call it's bluff. This quiet behind the scenes 'we are going to be prissy about this' is bull-dung. get it out in the open and call them out. I hate all this knife in the back, cloak and dagger bull. It reminds me of corporate and government. Only the liars, back-stabbers & disingenuous always win that sort of fight. look at government. how many honest people do you find there? Let's face it there is no such thing as an honest businessperson.

I agree with much of your sentiments, but what realistic choices do we have? I think Liz is just pointing out that we are doing everything reasonably possible to get the decision overturned. The simple fact is that there is a big power imbalance. It doesn't matter where we take the battle. Eddie has the numbers at AFLHQ, where it counts the most, as well as the media, with his stable of stooges. And we don't have billionaire backers like Paul Little to foot the legal if we wanted to go that route.

[AnnieH]

It's easy.
The swans should have employed a QC and gone to the Supreme Court of Victoria for an injunction to stop ALL trading until the issue was sorted out.

That would have stuck it up EVERYBODY.

[CureTheSane]

It's easy.
The swans should have employed a QC and gone to the Supreme Court of Victoria for an injunction to stop ALL trading until the issue was sorted out.

Probably.

Since they didn't, they won't now.
I'm not comfortable with being 'the hardly done by club struggling to move forward'
Been there, done that.

Think I rather would have been the club that comes out with counter punches, targeting the one thing that the AFK is scared of - it's brand.
Obviously not a specific target, but that would be the consequence and make the AFL really rethink their decision...

[aardvark]

Longmire reacts to restrictions - sydneyswans.com.au

Meh!

[Jewels]

It's easy.
The swans should have employed a QC and gone to the Supreme Court of Victoria for an injunction to stop ALL trading until the issue was sorted out.

That would have stuck it up EVERYBODY.

Yep exactly and that's a huge part of what is annoying me, they appear to be sitting on their hands and that's driving me crazy! Surely if they did this to any other club they would be screaming from the rooftops, but not us, a couple of " we are very disappointed" statements and thats it - frustrating the crap out of me!

[Matt80]

Yep exactly and that's a huge part of what is annoying me, they appear to be sitting on their hands and that's driving me crazy! Surely if they did this to any other club they would be screaming from the rooftops, but not us, a couple of " we are very disappointed" statements and thats it - frustrating the crap out of me!

The Swans obviously feel there is a strategy to resolve this situation. Paul Little has been throwing in the QCs, and that has not worked.

Everyone is writing letters and doing petitions but we have no visibility of the issues at play with the AFLs decision. Maybe someone on here should be privately getting in touch with Andrew Ireland and asking what we should be doing as a fan group. This should be led by site owners Scott and Danzar. If Ireland advises us not to write letters and protest then we put our pens down and leave it to him.

[Bloodthirsty]

I just don't understand why people in industry follow Eddie Macguire. He's not an intelligent man. He's not a good looking or charismatic man. He's not a nice man. He's not a man's man. He's not a man. Is he just a really loud man? Or a surprisingly wealthy man? I would've thought that it would be 'cooler' to go against Macguire, not the opposite.

The media blackout is the worst part of this ban. Sort of like cops looking the other way when an innocent falls victim to a heinous crime.

[Ludwig]

Along with all of us, I have expressed shock and dismay over this ruling, but in this post I would like to change the tone and take a more pragmatic and mostly positive view of the landscape. No doubt there are serious issues with the AFL administration that may well play out poorly in respect to the Swans:

• We have managed to secure the best key forward and arguably the best Ruck/forward in football. These are the hardest roles to fill in any side.
• Our 2 biggest competitors, PA and Hawthorn have made (assuming Ryder goes to PA) significant improvements in this trade period. But given that Hawthorn lost Franklin last year, picking up Frawley still puts them behind in the big name FA market.
• The Swans have lost an important player to FA in Malceski, but he's the first big name loss, he's 30, not 26, and we have to expect some losses in this regard. We do have players to fill his spot.
• We weren't planning to do much trading this year anyway, and certainly not in the FA market given our COLA reduction. So the restrictions won't really have much effect on what would have transpired this trade period anyway or our performance in 2015.
• We have plenty of depth over most parts of the ground and a good influx of quality players from recent drafts and the academy.
• Even if we cannot get this widely condemned crazy decision reversed for next season's trade period, we can probably sneak through without trading in players with a bit of luck on our side. We have 2 areas of potential exposure which could be affected by an inability to replace players:
  1. We will be reliant on Mike Pyke to do the bulk of the ruck work next year. Hopefully he can get more help from a healthy and fit Tippett to ease the load. As backup, we will be reliant of the rapid development of both Naismith and Nankervis; both have shown very promising signs. Hopefully we can get another year of development into them before we really need them beyond next season. Steve Taubert seems to be a miracle worker, so thee perhaps the development of these 2 can be fast tracked and we can see some big improvement in Tom Derickx as well.
  2. High quality KPDs are hard to come by. We just have to face that fact that salary cap restrictions will force us to find alternative paths to replacing Ted and Reg as they get toward the end of their careers. Hopefully they can continue being the resilient players they have been in the next season or two. A fair case can be made that Ted can go another couple of years and perhaps another 4 for Reg. So it's not quite panic time yet. We have 5 other players on our list that can play a true KPD role: Reid, AJ, XR, Allir and Abe Davis. I know what you're thinking: 'Panic Time!' I said we did need a bit of luck, and this is the main area that we need it. There's not much to be done but hope for the best and we get a reasonable run with injuries and player development.
  
  
• If schadenfreude makes you happy, then there is plenty to go around. Players are jumping ship all over the place.

1. Allen Christenen leaves Geelong.
2. Beams and Lumumba leaving Collingwood. More bad remarks about Bucks with every departure. It's hard to see the Pies being competitive for some years to come. Just too many losses of quality players.
3. I for one am not happy about seeing the exodus of players from GWS, but I'm sure others think they had it coming. It also underlines the need for continued support to retain players in the Sydney market, contrary to the thinking of the current AFL power-brokers.
4. The 2 WA clubs are finding it even more difficult than the Northern clubs in attracting out of state players. That's why more than half their lists are made up of players from WA.
5. Most other clubs in the league would love to switch places with us.

I will be looking forward to a successful Swans campaign in 2015 and beyond. It will only take one good news story, like AJ making a full recovery, to just about set everything back on the right path again.


This is only my opinion.

[Bloodthirsty]

To add to the positivity that Ludwig is rolling out, I will add this:

I love the fact that the Swans are clearly wanting to move towards filling the team with home-grown NSW footballers. Eliminate the go-home factor and the celebrity VIC attitude. It is this forward thinking that typifies Swans management. For this continued forward thinking, I am instilled with confidence. Just need to ensure that no one tears down the Academy. The more the Swans fill the side with players like Heeney, the more Macguire will call for blood. The direction is strategically strong. Having said that, the window is open now too....

[Meg]

Yes Boyd wanting to go home after only a year must be sending shivers up the spine of a few of those who planned the introduction of GWS!

[Auntie.Gerald]

seems like we are going to get our Academy pick again in 2016 also in young Mills so two top 10 players two years in a row aint bad

[Meg]

AFL slaps trade ban on Swans

Wrong thread!

[Dosser]

Let's face it there is no such thing as an honest businessperson.

That's a pretty broad brush wolfie. Some of us try to do the right thing with integrity. Not all business people are a throw back to the Wall Street of the 80s you know.
Anyway, I'm beginning to wonder if we were somehow caught with our hands in the cookie jar and that is why the commission is unanimous and the Swans aren't kicking up a stink.

[Meg]

Anyway, I'm beginning to wonder if we were somehow caught with our hands in the cookie jar and that is why the commission is unanimous and the Swans aren't kicking up a stink.

Except that the Swans HAVE been kicking up a stink. They clearly are briefing a lot of journalists and keep reiterating they have done nothing wrong, simply followed AFL rules and, while they supported COLA, in the end it was an AFL direction to pay it. This would be dangerous rhetoric if in fact they had done something wrong.

And as I understand it, Ken Woods from the AFL (who has some title similar to Manager Total Player Payments) both wrote the COLA words that are in the players' contracts AND is the AFL person who signs off every player's contract for the AFL. So if there was a something improper going on, it's taken him a lot of years to wake up to it!

[Go Swannies]

That's a pretty broad brush wolfie. Some of us try to do the right thing with integrity. Not all business people are a throw back to the Wall Street of the 80s you know.
Anyway, I'm beginning to wonder if we were somehow caught with our hands in the cookie jar and that is why the commission is unanimous and the Swans aren't kicking up a stink.

That's exactly what Eddie and all want everyone to think. But I think that the Bombers are desperate to find anything wrong with process at the AFL that there's no way they'd cover anything up. The hierarchy leaks too much for them to think it wouldn't come out.

I think it's more likely that they have said that, if we cop this, Eddie will settle down and the AFL will protect the academies. If so, I hope we have it in writing or on tape because I bet, with this battle won, Eddie is ready to start the next stage at R1 next year. Then it might well end up as QBE vs the AFL - and that may not be a battle they'll want to take on.